Sen. Tom Harkin is finding that expectations can be tough opponents as he scrambles to get the support he needs for a convincing win in tonight's Iowa caucuses, the opening round of the 1992 presidential campaign. Harkin has predicted that he will get at least 60% in his home state precinct caucuses and that "undecided" will place second. Until last weekend, leading Democrats figured he was right, but a Des Moines Register poll created some doubts.

James Gannon announced Friday that he plans to leave his job as editor of the Des Moines Register by the end of this year to become a columnist and Washington bureau chief for the the Detroit News. Gannon, 49, played a high-profile role in Iowa politics, organizing and moderating the Iowa presidential candidate debates before the state's political caucuses in 1980, 1984 and this year.

Democrat Rep. Richard A. Gephardt has a new distinction--as the most-traveled presidential candidate in Iowa. Gephardt has spent months working the back roads of Iowa politics, and he capped that off this week in the barnyard of a state senator's farm, campaigning for the Feb. 8 caucuses amid hay bales and bratwurst in the 99th and last Iowa county. "In and of itself, it's not any sure road to victory, but it helps," Gephardt said. "I wouldn't have done it if I didn't think it would help."

Re "In Iowa cornfields, a left-tilting tradition," Dec. 30 The Times brings to light, at long last, the rich history of Iowa's progressive politics. Too often it goes unnoticed or overlooked by the modern progressive movement that much of my native state was established by a strong lot of liberal-leaning Norwegian, German and Irish settlers. Each group came with a sense not only of hard work but the value of human dignity and a healthy respect for a need to maintain our role as our brother's keeper in both times of hardship and riches.

October 13, 2012 | By Lisa Mascaro, This post has been updated. See below for details

WASHINGTON -- President Obama is leaning on two of America's favorites -- Bubba and the Boss -- for a little get-out-the-vote action next week in critical swing states. Bruce Springsteen will headline a free event Thursday in the Parma, Ohio, area, where he will be joined by Bill Clinton, before heading for a second show later that day in Ames, Iowa, the Obama campaign announced, as Obama turns to the power of pop culture to get voters to the polls. That same night, the president will make a return visit to "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart"; on Saturday, the campaign released a new TV ad with the unmistakable voice of actor Morgan Freeman.

As controversy again swirled around White House Chief of Staff John H. Sununu's travel arrangements, Sununu headed out of town Tuesday, flying aboard a corporate airplane to attend an Iowa Republican Party fund-raising dinner, White House and Iowa GOP officials said. The White House, meanwhile, said that President Bush had "full confidence" in his chief of staff and defended Sununu's use of private aircraft for personal and political trips.

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who developed a reputation for trimming the growth of spending in his home state, is expected to announce Monday afternoon the formation of a presidential exploratory committee, according to his campaign staff. Reflecting the importance of social media in modern campaigns, Pawlenty is promising his supporters an "exclusive" look at his plans in a message to be posted on Facebook at 3 p.m. The announcement makes him the second major candidate to make such an announcement.

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who developed a reputation for trimming the growth of spending in his home state, announced Monday afternoon the formation of a presidential exploratory committee. Reflecting the importance of social media in modern campaigns, Pawlenty, a Republican, made the announcement by way of Facebook, in an online video with the slick production values of a feel-good campaign ad. The nearly two-minute video touched on Pawlenty's biography, recalling the economic downturn that occurred in Minnesota's Twin Cities during his youth.

It's a matter of experience. For Bob Dole it is the experience of the Midwest. The deep-down remembrance of the smell of freshly tilled topsoil, a plain upbringing in an ordinary place, a place in the heartland to call home. For George Bush it is the globe girdling experience of a half-dozen titled positions--jobs from here to China, literally. The experience that may, on the eve of the Reagan-Gorbachev summit, earn him a slice of credit for the upcoming missile reduction treaty.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie backed away from a court fight over same-sex marriage Monday, a move that further staked his place near the political middle ground at a time the country seems irretrievably divided into warring camps of right and left. The Republican governor's decision not to appeal a state Supreme Court judgment represents a gamble for his expected presidential effort: that in 2016 - after successive losing campaigns and a politically disastrous government shutdown - a majority of Republican primary voters will be willing to forsake ideological purity for a more pragmatic (and, some suggest, winning)